Automatic valve.



G. A. TRIGGS.

AUTOMATIC VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY20, 1918.

1,295,638., Patented Feb.25,1919.

7/1 /22 72655 Q I fiwnior WWW By W of the type operated b ononena.names, or CLARION, IOWA.

AUTOMATIC VALVE.

eoaeee.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 25, rare.

Application filed May 20, 1918. Serial No. 235,664..

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. Tnroos, a citizen of-the United States,and resident of Clarion, in the county of Wright and State of Iowa, haveinvented a certain new and useful Automatic Valve, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide an automatic valve of simple,durable and inexpensive construction, adapted for use in Water systems.

A further object is to provide such a valve the variations in therelative pressures rom the tank and some other force.

Still a further object is to provide such a valve and operatingmechanism, whereby the valve is moved with a quick movement from openedto closed position, or vice versa.

Still a further object is to provide such a valve and operatingmechanism having adjustable parts, whereby the parts may be regulated soas to determine the relative pressure necessary to operate the valve inone direction or the other.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in theconstruction, arrangement and combination of the'various parts of thedevice, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, ashereinafter'more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a side elevation of the valve and operating mechanism,the movable diaphragm being shown in vertical cross section.

Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of the valv and parts connected therewith,and

Fig. 3 shows a side elevation of a slightly modified form of theequipment.

Before explaining in detail the construction of my valve, a briefexplanation of the system in which it is used may conduce to a clearerunderstanding of the purposes and structure of my invention.

My valve may be used in a variety of ways; for instance in a pumpingsystem where the valve is used to control the flow of city water fromthe source of supply to a pump. The pump operated by the flow of wateris used to pump water from a cistern to a tank.

The valve includes a diaphragm actuated on one side by the pressure ofcity water or by a spring or other suitable device, and

on the other side is subject to pressure from the tank.

In the accompanying drawings I have used the reference numeral 10 toindicate generally the valve casing, which in the form of the deviceillustrated herein, should be water-tight. Communicating with the valvecasing 10 is a supply pipe 11.

I Communicating with the valve casing 10, preferably at the lowerportion thereof, are pipes 12 and 13, at the entrance to which areformed valve seats 14 and 15. Pivotally mounted at 16 between the valveseats 14 and 15. is a double valve 17, adapted in one position to closethe entrance to the pipe 12, and in another position to close theentrance to the pipe 13, in coaction with the respective seats 14 and15.

The upper surface of the valve 17 has a portion 18 concave and curved onthe arc of a circle having its center at the center of the stub-shaft19. On the stub-shaft 19 is mounted a lever 20, having portionsextending downwardly from and upwardly from the stub-shaft. The lowerpart of the lever 20 carries a roller 21, which travels on and coactswith the surface 18 of the valve 17.

Mounted in the wall of the casing 10 by means of a water-tight joint 22,is a slide rod 23, having at its inner end a head or- L tween the head28 and the head 30, at the upper end of the sleeve 27 is a coil spring31 tending to force the head 28 and the rod 29 away from the pivot pointof the sleeve 27.

Suitably supported outside the casing 10 is a diaphragm casing 32, inwhich is mounted a movable flexible diaphragm member 33, shown clearlyin Fig. 1. The slide rod 23 is connected 'with the diaphragm member 33-,and may be connected with a rod 34 extending away from the diaphragmmember 33 in the opposite direction from the slide rod 23. Screwed 1ntothediaphragm casing on the side thereof opposite the slide rod 33, is asleeve 35 in which is mounted a coil spring 36, into which the rod 34extends. The coil spring 36 abuts against a nut 37 adjacent to thediaphragm member 33 at one end, and against a shoulder 38 in the sleeve35 at the other end, and yieldingly tends to hold the diaphragm member33*against the interior surface of the wall of the diaphragm casing 32farthest from the sleeve 35, for balancing pressure in the casing 10.

The sleeve 35 communicates with the interior of the diaphragm casing,and also with a tube 39 which leads to another tube or pipe 40. The pipe40 is designed to be connected with a cistern or other source of supply,and also with a storage tank 41. The pipe 12 communicates with the pump13, which pumps water from the cistern into the pipe 40. Leading fromthe ump 13 is a pipe 42 which takes away tie water that has been used bythe pump.

The pipe 42 may connect with a pipe 43 communicating with the fixturesin a house. In case such structure is used, the pipe 13 is alsoconnected with the pipe 43 and fur nishes a bypass, whereby water maypass from the valve casing 10 around the pump without going through thepump. The form of the invention just described is shown in Fig. 2.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a slightly modified form of the device, in whichthe pipe 13 is closed by a cap 44, and the pipe 42 is designed to extendto a sewer or other suitable point of discharge.

In the pipe 40 between the'pipe 39 and the tank 41, I preferably providea valve 45.

It may be noted that by screwing the sleeve 35 farther into or out ofthe diaphragm casing 32, the tension of the spring 36 may be regulatedas desired.

I will now describe the practical operation of my improved valve. InFig. 1 the parts are shown in their positions assumed after the tank 41has been filled and the valve has operated to close the opening to thepipe 12, thereby shutting off the flow of water through the pump andstopping the pump ing of water through the tank 41.

It'will readily be seen' that if the form of the device shown in Fig. 2is employed, city water maybe drawn from the valve casing through thepipe 13 without in any way affecting the operation of the valve.

Whenever the pressure from the tank 41 becomes so low that the combinedpressure from the tank 41 to the pipes 40 and 39 and. thesleeve 35 andthe spring 36 is not sufiicient to overcome the pressure of the water inthe casing 10 (this being the pressure in the instance underconsideration, of the city water), then the pressure of the water in thecasing 10 will force the head 24 and the slide rod 23 outwardly, therebycausing the diaphragm member 33 to move toward movement is steady, anddoes not affect the valve 17 until the lever 20 and the rod 29 aresubstantially in alined position and move slightly past alined position,whereupon the spring 31 will force the head 28 and the pin 26 and theupper end of the lever 20 quickly to the left, for thereby moving thevalve 17 from its position shown in Fig. 1 to position for closing thepipe 13 and opening the pipe 12, with a sudden movement. The openingaround the rod 23 is large enough to allow water from the casing 10 toenter the diaphragm casing.

lVhen this movement is completed, the water coming from the supply pipe11 will pass through the pipe 12 to the pump whenever the pipe leadingfrom the pump is opened.

Where the form of device shown in Fig. 2 is used, this would occurwhenever water was drawn from the fixtures in a house or the like. I

\Vhere the device in Fig. 3 is used, the pumping operation would beginwhenever the valve 51 in the pipe 42 is opened. The pumping wouldcontinue as long as the flow was permitted through the pipe 42, or untilthe pressure in the tank was suflicient to cause the valve 17 to closethe pipe 12, in which case water drawn through the house fixtures wouldpass through the pipe 1.3 but I would not operate the pump till the useof the fixtures ceased. Thus with the form of the device shown in Fig.2, no water is wasted, but the pump is operated whenever the pressure inthe tank is down, and water is drawn through the ordinary housefixtures. In case it is desired to run the pump for an unusual time andno water is desired for use in the house, it is obvious, of course, thatsome water would have to be wasted.

After the tank has been filled to the point where the predeterminedpressure has been reached, then the pressure in the tank, combined withthe tension of the spring 34, will slowly move the rod 23 to the rightuntil the lever 20 and the rod 29 pass center, whereupon the spring 31will cause the lever 20 to act with a quick movement for moving thevalve 17 to position for closing the opening into the pipe 12. Byregulating the tension on the spring 34, the pressure from the tanknecessary for operating the valve, will, of course, be varied.

It will be seen that various means, such as a spring, might be' employedfor imposing pressure on the rod 23 against the pressure of the spring36 and the pressure from the tank.

It will be-noted that the pin 26 has sufficient play in the opening 25so that when the spring 31 operates toswing the lever 20, sufficientfree movement of said lever is permitted with relation to the slide rod23.

naeaeae The advantages of a device of this kind are largely seen fromthe foregoing descripaction of the pump is made positive and there isvery little leakage of water without operating the pump.

The parts are of simple and inexpensive construction, and the valve isvery durable.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of thevarious parts of the device without departingfrom the real intent andpurposes of my invention,

and it is my intention to cover by my patent any modified forms ofstructure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be,

reasonably included within the scope of my claims.

I claim as my mvention:

1. In a device of the plass described, a

diaphragm easing, a flexible diaphragm member therein, means forsubjecting one side of said diaphragm member to the pressure from atank, a spring arranged to impose pressure on the same side of thediaphragm member, a slide-rod connected with the other side of thediaphragm member, means for imposing a predetermined pres sure on saidslide rod, a valve, a lever op-.

eratively connected with said valve, and means for connecting said leverwith said slide rod, whereby the movement of the slide rod impartssudden opening and closing movement to the valve, said means comprisinga head on said slide rod, having an opemng therein, a pin on said lever,ex-

tended through said opening and having considerable play in saidopening, a member pivotally mounted, a second member operativelyconnected with said opening, and tele-' scopically mounted on said lastdescribed member, and a spring for forcing said last two describedmembers apart.

2. In a device of the class described, a diaphragm device a valvecasing, a slide rod extending through the wall of said valve valve withsaid slide rod, whereby comparatively slow movement of the slide rodimparts comparativelyquick opening or closing movement to the valve,said means ineluding a lever pivoted between its ends, having one endoperatively connected with said slide rod topermit some play, and havingits other end arranged to engage said curved face for operating saidvalve, and a spring device for imparting quick movement to said leverwhenever the' lever is moved past a certain predetermined point by saidrod.

3. In a device of the class described, a valve casing, a slide rodextending through the wall of said valve casing, an intake pipe forsupplying Water tosaid valve casing, a discharge pipe, a, valve mountedto rock and arranged to close the opening into said discharge pipe inone of its positions, and

mined point, said valve having a surface curved on the arc of a circlehaving its center at the ivot point of said lever, and a rot'ary mem eron the other end of said lever for engaging said surface.

Des Moines, Iowa, April 29,1918.

enonen A. raises.

